


late night fears

by distortionist



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, LAB RAT PROMPTO....
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:22:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29986284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/distortionist/pseuds/distortionist
Summary: two a.m. anxiety spirals and silent reminders.
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia & Prompto Argentum & Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	late night fears

**Author's Note:**

> hello... can you tell i’m hyperfixated on ffxv. i feel like i’m spamming the ffxv tag a lot lately (rest assured i will continue doing so until i escape special interest hell)
> 
> i love lab rats very much and prompto is a canon lab rat so i simply must project all my lab rat thoughts onto him. featuring the chocobros being found family siblings because that's just canon babey!!!!

“Why are you still up, Prom?” 

Noctis groaned, blinking his eyes open at the sound of his brothers talking. He glanced at the clock on the wall to check the time, but his vision was fuzzy from sleep and, for once, he’d actually remembered to take his contacts out before falling asleep. He sighed, sitting up to see what was going on.

“Oh! I just— wasn’t really tired, s’all,” Prompto mumbled, shrugging. Gladio shot him an incredulous look, and the room went quiet for a minute. 

“It’s two in the morning, Prompto,” Ignis finally said, his voice soft. “You must be tired. Come to bed.” 

“Uhm.” Prompto’s eyes darted around the room nervously as he fidgeted with his hands. “Are you sure?”

Noctis blinked in confusion, not quite understanding what that was supposed to mean. Prompto noticed his confusion, and began fidgeting even more.

“I just— I mean— Now that you guys know what I am, I thought...” Prompto cast his gaze to the floor, avoiding eye contact. “I just— didn’t think it was really fair to be all buddy-buddy with you. Since I’m... y’know.”

Noctis slapped himself in the face, dragging his hand down in exasperation.

“That’s what this is about?” he asked, staring at Prompto tiredly. “I keep telling you, I don’t care where you came from. You’re my friend either way.”

“I’m sorry, I just—“ 

“Hey, hey,” Noctis interrupted, shaking his head. “What’d I say about apologizing?”

“Only do it when I’ve actually done something wrong, I know, I don’t need you to treat me like a godsdamn _child_ , Noct.” Prompto gritted his teeth in frustration, tugging at his hair stressfully. “I just— I was created to kill you guys. That’s the only reason I exist. And here I am, acting like we can be best friends, like— Who am I even kidding?”

Noctis went quiet for a long moment, and Prompto immediately misinterpreted his silence as dejection. 

“Shit, sorry, I just— I’m stressed out, I didn’t mean to snap at you, I’m—“ Noctis held his hand up to get Prompto to stop. “Sorry, sorry.” 

“C’mere, dude.” Noctis patted the empty spot beside him on the bed, and Prompto reluctantly sat down. “You’re overthinking shit again.”

Prompto went quiet, drawing his knees to his chest and curling in on himself. Noctis frowned, wrapping his arm around Prompto’s shoulders and pulling him against his side. 

“You’re good, Prom. You’re a good person, and I trust you with my life— That’s why you’re _here_ right now.” Noctis pressed a kiss to the top of Prompto’s head. “You’re good, okay? Even when you’re worried that you’re not. It doesn’t matter where you came from.”

“‘M sorry,” Prompto mumbled into Noctis’ shoulder, tightly wrapping his arms around Noctis’ waist. 

“There’s no need to be,” Ignis reassured, sitting down beside the two. “It’s alright.”

“I think,” Gladio started, then paused for a moment, carefully choosing his next words, “there’s something powerful in being born to kill, and choosing not to. Being created for evil, and instead doing as much good as possible.”

“I try my best,” Prompto mumbled, letting go of Noctis to wipe a few stray tears from his eyes. “Sorry. That was dumb to get all upset about. I just— I don’t know. I guess I’m just scared of losing you guys.”

“Yeah, not gonna happen.” Noctis ruffled Prompto’s hair. “You’re stuck with me. You’re my little brother, I’m not letting you go anywhere.”

“ _Little_ brother? We’re the same age!” 

“You’re two months younger,” Noctis said matter-of-factly, earning a punch to the shoulder from Prompto.

“Call me your little brother again, and I’ll go back on literally all of this and kill you as violently as possible.” Prompto glared playfully at Noctis. Noctis pouted. 

“Threats against the king are considered treason, y’know. Don’t make me pull out the guillotine.” Prompto’s glare didn’t falter, and Noctis sighed in defeat. “Fine. You’re my twin brother, who also happens to be the younger one.” 

“Oh, fuck you,” Prompto muttered, rolling his eyes. Despite that, he was still smiling faintly. 

“Don’t forget who the oldest here is,” Gladio chimed in, glaring threateningly. Noctis shrugged. 

“I still have more authority, old man.” 

“Wh— I’m _three years_ older than you. I’m not _old_ ,” Gladio sputtered, narrowing his eyes at Noctis. Prompto burst out laughing, earning a halfhearted glare from Gladio, who was also very obviously holding back laughter. 

“As the middle child and only person here with any semblance of common sense, I order all of you to go back to sleep before we get kicked out of the hotel for noise complaints,” Ignis interrupted, pinching the bridge of his nose tiredly. As if on cue, Noctis let out a yawn.

“Yeah. Sleep sounds nice,” he mumbled. After another yawn, he crawled back underneath the bedsheets, dragging Prompto with him. Noctis wasn’t usually the most cuddly person of the bunch, but he grabbed onto Prompto and held him tightly, resting his head on Prompto’s chest— Most likely to make sure Prompto didn’t go on another anxious spiral in the middle of the night. 

Ignis laid down beside Prompto, giving him a light pat on the head before getting ready to go back to sleep. Gladio laid down closest to the door, a Royal Shield protocol that had become more of an instinct than anything. 

“Guys?” Prompto whispered after a few minutes of silence. Noctis mumbled something incomprehensible in response, already half-asleep. “Uhm. I love you, a whole lot. Thanks for letting me stick around.”

“Love you too, kid,” Gladio replied tiredly. Ignis turned around and wrapped his arms around Prompto, a quiet way of returning the sentiment. Noctis, too tired to do much, simply tightened his grip on Prompto for a moment. 

And for the first time in a few nights, Prompto fell asleep peacefully.


End file.
